Benefit brownies

We have a problem in America, and it doesn't have anything to do with terrorists or threats from ISIS. It has everything to do with us. People believe what they're taught, and our kids are still being taught that people who are different from them are somehow inferior and probably dangerous. It's an incredibly huge disease that reaches every part of our society.

Let's not get all up in arms over ISIS extremists using violence against those who aren't Muslim while we have Christian extremists killing folks who aren't conservative enough for their tastes. We have large populations still believing that African Americans should all be shot. That people of Asian ancestry cannot be trusted. That those from the Jewish culture are dead wrong. That women don't deserve equal pay because they're not as reliable, intelligent, strong, or hard-working as their male counterparts. That white males are arrogant. That the elderly are a burden.

We have people believing that if someone lives on the street, there is something inherently wrong with them, that they made their beds and they can lie in them. Business owners who shoo sleepers out of their doorways, not caring where they sleep, as long as it isn't here.

We have people who think that global warming is a conspiracy created by liberals for political power. An entire national group of elected republicans fighting any and every bill that President Obama has presented, simply because he is black. Or liberal. Or whatever they think he is. Some even still claim he's Muslim, which shouldn't matter, and not a born citizen, which is likely a cover for other issues that don't sound as real.

We have people who think Trump is qualified to be president, and not in spite of his support of bigotry across the board, but because of it! Imagine our international relationships if the Donald is invited to the table.

We have people claiming that Obama is wrong to push for 10,000 Syrian refugees to be housed here while we have 50,000 veterans who are homeless. Not only are those two facts NOT mutually exclusive, but we as a society have turned our backs on those veterans over and over. There are programs in place to help our veterans, but our government can't possibly find and take care of every individual who has served. The veterans have to come forward. The neighbors who see a PTSD victim on the street have to care enough to ask what he/she needs, instead of shooing him/her away because he/she is dirty or confused or wrapped in an old blanket. Many homeless vets don't know how to find the help that is available to them. Still scared? Print up a card that says "Help for Veterans 1-877-4AID-VET (1-877-424-3838)." Hand the stranger that and tell them the call is free.

We need to look deeper into our own hearts if we want to cure our society. We need to challenge one another to care, to lend a hand, to engage. We cannot allow our fear of different cultures prevent us from reaching out to them. Most of all, we cannot condone violence as a way for anyone or any group to make their point. Violence is always wrong, whether it's ISIS bombing Syria or Afghanistan shooting down a Russian plane or police shooting black men or black men shooting white students or conservatives killing Planned Parenthood staff or Christians killing Jews or heteros killing gays. It's all the same. We're all the same. Until we recognize our sameness, we will never overcome our differences.